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FDA plans to limit amount of salt allowed in processed foods for health reasons

jallman said:
I am not even going to ask about that one.

I only drink whole milk that is from local dairies.
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Yeah well I also don't eat processed food, so I'm mostly just being a pain in the ass.

Oh and salt and I have a deep-rooted love affair stretching back over a decade. Any classically trained chef worth their...salt uses copious amounts of it.
 
rivrrat said:
Don't eat processed food. Problem solved.
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Easier said than done. Even just making a simple sandwich. Consider one would have to start with making their own bread.
 
soccerboy22 said:
I don't eat a lot of processed foods, I work out regularly, and I still have to be aware of my intake because it is in so much of our food. I mean it sounds easy to say to it isn't difficult to know how much sodium we eat, but it really isn't. Well at least for me it isn't.

But I understand where most of you are coming from and I agree it is a fine line with the government telling us what we can and cannot do. I just feel that if we could take 10% of the sodium out of our food and drinks and the taste does not change then why not do it?
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I guess for me it's that every time you give the government an inch, it ends up taking a mile. Also, I don't like this social structure we have of blaming the nebulous and faceless manufacturer/system/"man" for the poor choices of the individual.
 
WI Crippler said:
pus is all natural. what exactly is the problem?
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The truth is, it's not even pus. It's just somatic cells, which are even in organic milk you drink. All the somatic cells get lumped into the term "pus" by anti-milk groups.

Like really...how the hell do you run out of things to rally against and turn to being an anti-milk loon?
 
NoJingoLingo said:
Because some of your irresponsible choices do in fact affect others.

Beyond high blood pressure, hypertension, hardening of arteries, hardening of stool, water retention and gastric ulcers, recent research suggests that too much sodium can be attributed to bone loss as well. And bone loss is escalating among men, not just in women. If you happen to be on medicare/medicade I'm paying for your medications.

I don't think restricting the sodium content of prepackaged foods due to health or environmental concerns qualifies as "nanny state". I think protecting it's citizens from unnecessary harm is job one for the government. Besides, they aren't saying you can add table salt to your food if you want.
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Then what's the point of restricting the amount in prepackaged foods? It's a pointless exercise in growing the bureaucratic nanny state.

And if you're worried about someone's actions affecting others, then speed limits should be no higher than 25 mph everywhere. Would you support that in the interest of the greater good?
 
At the end of the day all the food companies will do is find some other crap to put in our food. I mean my god you have "Sugar free" stuff, they just replaced the sugar with sorbitol or some other horrible chemical. The health effects of crap like sorbitol will take a long time to measure.
 
winston53660 said:
You missed listing the salt content. The sodium content per slice is 170 mg. Assuming a person uses 2 slices of bread that right there is 340mgs of sodium not counting meat or mayo.
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So choose a different bread with a lower sodium content. Or here's an idea: don't have a sandwich. :shrug:

My point was that you have tools available to help you make wise decisions. If you have a sodium problem, thats on you. It's not on the rest of the country to have the government step in and tell manufacturers to limit their sodium content because you failed to research what you put in your body.
 
Why are you guys on the right always so knee jerk to everything? It is a basic pillar of conservatism that the government should only intervene in the markets when there is a market failure.

Folks, in terms of our food consumption and choices, we obviously have ourselves a market failure:

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It has gotten so bad that it's literally like crack to some Americans:

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In all seriousness, humans like most land mammals have evolved with a strong craving for salt because salt is usually in very short supply for land animals in nature. However, the problem is now that we have an abundance of salt available to us today, yet we still have the cravings for it that are an evolutionary adaption to living in an environment where salt was scarce. Thus, there is probably a role for regulating salt content in processed foods, or at the very least doing a better job with product labeling in regards to salt content.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
Why are you guys on the right always so knee jerk to everything?
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Probably because you guys on the left are so quick to codefy your causes du jour into permanent laws we are stuck with when the panic dies down.

It is a basic pillar of conservatism that the government should only intervene in the markets when there is a market failure.
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True. But it's also a pillar of conservativism to require everyone to have some personal responsibility.

Folks, in terms of our food consumption and choices, we obviously have ourselves a market failure:
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No, we have ourselves a personal responsibility failure.

It has gotten so bad that it's literally like crack to some Americans:
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And you won't see me advocating for the government regulation of cocaine content per rock either.

In all seriousness, humans like most land mammals have evolved with a strong craving for salt because salt is usually in very short supply for land animals in nature. However, the problem is now that we have an abundance of salt available to us today, yet we still have the cravings for it that are an evolutionary adaption to living in an environment where salt was scarce. Thus, there is probably a role for regulating salt content in processed foods, or at the very least doing a better job with product labeling in regards to salt content.
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I would go for full disclosure of nutritional information in every product. But you know what? I bet there's already an app for that, too.
 
jallman said:
I guess for me it's that every time you give the government an inch, it ends up taking a mile. Also, I don't like this social structure we have of blaming the nebulous and faceless manufacturer/system/"man" for the poor choices of the individual.
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Like I said earlier I understand where you are coming from about government interference. And I also agree that blame doesn't solely go to the manufacture. It is also the individual's fault for not eating properly. I just feel if the companies can reduce the amount of sodium in their product, and it does not cost them a lot why not do it?
 
soccerboy22 said:
Like I said earlier I understand where you are coming from about government interference. And I also agree that blame doesn't solely go to the manufacture. It is also the individual's fault for not eating properly. I just feel if the companies can reduce the amount of sodium in their product, and it does not cost them a lot why not do it?
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I agree. I just don't think they should be forced to do so by government intervention. But we could go around like this for another 10 pages. I hear what you are saying and am glad you hear what I am saying. I guess thats better than most threads go. LOL
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
In all seriousness, humans like most land mammals have evolved with a strong craving for salt because salt is usually in very short supply for land animals in nature. However, the problem is now that we have an abundance of salt available to us today, yet we still have the cravings for it that are an evolutionary adaption to living in an environment where salt was scarce. Thus, there is probably a role for regulating salt content in processed foods, or at the very least doing a better job with product labeling in regards to salt content.
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More government regulation isn't going to reduce people's consumption of salt one iota, simply because it's so easy to get. If you reduce it in the prepackaged foods, then people that want more salt will just grab the salt shaker and add more. This is just more "feel good" nonsense that will have no beneficial long-term benefit, unless you see a larger government bureaucracy as a good thing.
 
Moon said:
More government regulation isn't going to reduce people's consumption of salt one iota, simply because it's so easy to get. If you reduce it in the prepackaged foods, then people that want more salt will just grab the salt shaker and add more. This is just more "feel good" nonsense that will have no beneficial long-term benefit, unless you see a larger government bureaucracy as a good thing.
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Not really. When I was crunched for time a couple years ago, I ate a lot of frozen dinners. I could tell I was getting too much sodium (water retention, heart burn, etc). I make almost everything I eat now and I use a LOT of salt. Haven't had a single problem. There's a lot more sodium in processed food than in the home made version of the same thing.


Interestingly enough, it appears the processed food producers are completely on board. So is it okay if Americans eat less salt because private companies force them to?
 
Kelzie said:
Not really. When I was crunched for time a couple years ago, I ate a lot of frozen dinners. I could tell I was getting too much sodium (water retention, heart burn, etc). I make almost everything I eat now and I use a LOT of salt. Haven't had a single problem. There's a lot more sodium in processed food than in the home made version of the same thing.


Interestingly enough, it appears the processed food producers are completely on board. So is it okay if Americans eat less salt because private companies force them to?
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Private companies don't force people to eat less sodium. And I seriously doubt anyone would have a problem with any private company decreasing or INcreasing the sodium in their products. That is their choice, as it is the choice of the consumers to buy their products.

But the government forcing private companies to reduce sodium just to save us from ourselves is utter and complete bull****.
 
rivrrat said:
Private companies don't force people to eat less sodium. And I seriously doubt anyone would have a problem with any private company decreasing or INcreasing the sodium in their products. That is their choice, as it is the choice of the consumers to buy their products.

But the government forcing private companies to reduce sodium just to save us from ourselves is utter and complete bull****.
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Interesting distinction. What if the private companies did it to save us from ourselves?
 
Kelzie said:
Interesting distinction. What if the private companies did it to save us from ourselves?
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As long as the government isn't forcing them, I don't give a **** what the private companies do. It's their choice. As it should be.
 
rivrrat said:
As long as the government isn't forcing them, I don't give a **** what the private companies do. It's their choice. As it should be.
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Meh. I don't really have a problem with it. I'm not going to eat much processed food one way or the other and the people who consume it in excess have such a questionable ability to make rational decisions in my mind that I don't mind if the government takes care of them.

Besides, it lowers how much health care is going to cost us all.:lol:
 
Kelzie said:
Meh. I don't really have a problem with it. I'm not going to eat much processed food one way or the other and the people who consume it in excess have such a questionable ability to make rational decisions in my mind that I don't mind if the government takes care of them.

Besides, it lowers how much health care is going to cost us all.:lol:
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I have a problem with things even if they don't affect me. And, while you fools are paying out the ass for crappy, heavily regulated, rationed health care, I'll be sailing around the world. :2razz:
 
rivrrat said:
I have a problem with things even if they don't affect me. And, while you fools are paying out the ass for crappy, heavily regulated, rationed health care, I'll be sailing around the world. :2razz:
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Oh god I hate sailing. The boat tilts...and it's supposed to. :2sick1:

Don't forget to pack some sea salt!
 
zimmer said:
FDA plans to limit amount of salt allowed in processed foods for health reasons



I spoke with Harkin's office and this is what the babe manning the phones told me:

The bill is for as much for environmental reasons as health reasons.
By reducing salt in our food, our stool production will be up to 15% softer and this would allow for faster fragmentation of the mass. That is critical to reducing the amount of double flushing necessary for the smaller toilet tanks mandated by Congress. Billions of gallons of potable water would be saved over the decades.

.
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As long as the government is sticking their heavy hand in the medical care system, these kind of things have been a forgone conclusion.

I don't agree with it but with reality being what it is, it will hopefully save us some tax money.
 
Kelzie said:
Meh. I don't really have a problem with it. I'm not going to eat much processed food one way or the other and the people who consume it in excess have such a questionable ability to make rational decisions in my mind that I don't mind if the government takes care of them.

Besides, it lowers how much health care is going to cost us all.:lol:
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That's kind of where I sit with it except for the government taking care of it for them.

Dammit, if I want to eat a bag of salty funions once a month, I want my funions exactly like they are.
 
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